T cells can be activated by an antigen presenting cell. An activated T cell can bind to a cell that presents an antigen to which the T cell was activated via an interaction between a T cell receptor and a major histocompatibility complex, and the activated T cell can kill the cell to which it is bound. It is possible to activate T cells from a donor against cells from a patient and generate cytotoxic T cells that kill patient cells. Such T cells are referred to as “alloreactive” T cells as they are activated from donor cells and are active against patient cells.
Alloreactive cytotoxic T cells can be prepared by isolating blood from a patient, separating white blood cells, and inactivating them. These inactivated patient cells can be mixed with white blood cells from a donor in a one-way lymphocyte reaction. In the lymphocyte reaction, T cells among the donor cell population are activated against antigens presented by cells in the patient population, and activated cytotoxic T cells are generated against the patient cells. The activated cytotoxic T cells can be collected and administered to the patient. Cells in the patient, such as cancer cells, that display antigens recognized by the cytotoxic T cells will be killed.
The methods in the prior art, while effective, have shown to produce results of varying reliability.